Author who wrote heartbreaking 'You May Want to Marry My Husband' essay dies of cancer

Amy Krouse Rosenthal, the children's book author who most recently made headlines for her heartbreaking essay seeking a new love for her husband as she slowly lost her battle with cancer, died Monday morning.

Her longtime literary agent confirmed the news to NBC, saying "everything Amy did was life and love affirming."

"She was such a bright light with a great sense of wonder. Amy loved her family. She loved words, ideas, connections. She taught us that life's seemingly small moments are not really small at all," said Amy Rennert. "Amy's final essay, written under the most difficult of circumstances, a love letter to her husband Jason, was the ultimate gift to him and also to the rest of us."

Krouse Rosenthal's extraordinary love letter was read and shared by millions of people around the world after it was published in the New York Times earlier this month.

Titled “You May Want to Marry My Husband,” her letter was both a tale of their love and a plea to whoever may someday fill the void she’d leave behind.

“I have never been on Tinder, Bumble or eHarmony, but I’m going to create a general profile for Jason right here, based on my experience of coexisting in the same house with him for, like, 9,490 days,” she wrote. “First, the basics: He is 5-foot-10, 160 pounds, with salt-and-pepper hair and hazel eyes.”

She goes on to say that Jason is a “sharp dresser,” “uncannily handy,” a good cook, a music lover, a painter, a traveler and more.

An accomplished author of 28 children’s books and two memoirs, Krouse Rosenthal struck a chord with countless readers – but to her family and friends, the candid, emotional letter came as no surprise.

“Amy has a great gift for making us understand that life’s seemingly small moments are really not so small,” her friend and book agent Amy Rennery told the “Today Show.”